


One Lie Can Ruin A Thousand Truths

by TheOriginalSilvertongue



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Internalized racism, Introspection, Manipulation, Odin's A+ Parenting, POV First Person, Short One Shot, Thor: The Dark World, broken trust, hostage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 13:59:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOriginalSilvertongue/pseuds/TheOriginalSilvertongue
Summary: Loki reflects on Odin's claim that he adopted him out of mercy. He has his doubts about that.





	One Lie Can Ruin A Thousand Truths

All my life, I was told that I was born to be a king. That it was my birthright. Then I learned that who I was had been a lie. When I confronted my father about it, he told me I’d been abandoned as an infant, left to die. That he’d saved me.

_I didn’t believe it then, and I do not believe it now._

He took me from Jotunheim for a purpose. A purpose he later admitted. Whether or not he loved me is irrelevant. He lied to me about who I was. He lied to me about the circumstances of my ‘adoption’ as well. You see, a conquering king doesn’t just pick up stray infants who just so happen to be the heir of the conquered enemy king. I was a hostage. Whether Odin, or anyone else, grew to love me in that time changes the fact of my captivity not in the least. I was stolen from my people and raised in a culture wherein I was taught to hate my own race. 

_To hate myself._

There really is no more fitting punishment for the heir of a defeated enemy. Laufey, my father, could not make a move against Asgard without endangering me. He knew Odin took me. For a thousand years, all of Jotunheim suffered, alone on a dark, freezing realm. Not because they were defeated, not because they could not rise again, but because they wanted to keep me safe. Laufey kept the peace Odin had forced upon him with my kidnapping. 

My people, the entire race I tried to annihilate, spent a millennium under Odin’s boot to protect their prince. To protect me. Nobody leaves a frost giant baby out in the cold to perish. We thrive in the cold, unlike weak Aesir children who would freeze to death. 

_I was not cast out and left to die; I was beloved._

It was nothing but cruelty to make up such a story, to set me against my own people. It was calculated, brutal manipulation. Odin knew I would hate myself in the process; he taught me to do so. The cost was worth it to him. I was always the key. With me, Asgard had a guaranteed peace with Jotunheim. The Jotuns would not risk harming me, and I was loyal to Asgard. 

_I was not unwanted, not rejected._

I knew Laufey was my father, but he never knew I was his son. I killed him, yet he must have died thinking he’d failed me. For him, I felt nothing. I still feel nothing. For Odin, I nearly crumbled when he finally said he loved me and called me his son. I made such sacrifices for him; I have done horrible things for him. And yet I am proud. The utter perversity of what I’ve become revolts me. I cannot look at Thor and not see his father. 

_Our father._

I wonder what it is my brother sees when he looks at me? I do hope his gaze is kinder than my own.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback, comments, concrit welcome! Thanks for reading.


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